Archers thread #152: The Dog Days of Summer in Ambridge! Rabid rants, tearoom dogfight, Bully Dog George gets it all on camera. Is Lone wolf Rob waiting in the woods? Discuss The Archers here!

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd love a son like George, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Starting this new thread a bit early, as we're near the end of the last thread and I'm out all day today. As last night's episode was a banger, I thought I'd better ensure discussion can continue seamlessly!

The original idea for a dog theme for this thread came from the death of poor Weaver. RIP. The Dog Days of summer are associated with storms and the silly season, so quite appropriate for The Archers at the moment! They may technically be over now, as it's all to do with the heliacal rising of the Dog Star, Sirius (no, me neither), but apparently the Anglo-Saxons considered they lasted into September (thank you, Wikipedia), so that will do for me.

So - what next for Helen, Henry and Jack? Surely even the Bridge Farm Archers will see that she needs professional help? After her outburst the other night they might finally grasp that Henry could do with some too. All very grim.

On the lighter side (perhaps), whither Pip and Stella?

Over to you!

What about Jazzers old room with the prof?

Oh yes, I'd forgotten about the bio security.

What about Jazzers old room with the prof?

You’re so right @stilldumdedumming That would be the most perfect solution. Hannah is very rough around the edges but she’s not a bad person and actually I can see her fitting in with A and J quite nicely. Jazzer really should have thought of that option by now…

I think the SL is about the plight of renters. I am one and it is very real. The amount of private lets available has decreased by over 40% in the last few years. In other words it's halved.

Probably too expensive for Hannah?

What happened to the flat above the shop that Tom'n'Tash were in?

What happened to the flat above the shop that Tom'n'Tash were in?

I think Chris Carter is still there, isn’t he?

No, I think he inherited a cottage from the divorce and now lives there with Martha? He's another one we haven't heard from for aaaages. I like Chris :)

Doesn’t he rent the cottage to Jakob? I don’t usually keep track of these things but that rings a bell. I could be muddling things up though…

Just caught up on episodes and thread from the last couple of days. Oh @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I'm so sorry for your loss.

What on earth was that episode about? I assumed right up until the end it was Tracey winding Jazzer up and she’d eventually crack and laugh about it… so bizarrely out of character for her surely?

@leftshark this is just what I thought. I was waiting for Tracey to say nah just having a laugh.

Oh yes I think you're right! Clearly I can't keep up with everything either 🤦🏻‍♀️

The list of
https://ambridgereporter.org.uk/Ambridge_Residences_and_Occupiers.html
houses in Ambridge and who lives in them seems to be up to date at the moment. Or at least, I don't think anyone has moved house since April, have they?

Is will no longer the gamekeeper? What does he do?

Eddie confiscated his gun and required him to go and live with him and Clarrie at Grange Farm (after Will ahd lost his job and therefore his house as well because Eddie had made that decision).

Will now does deliveries for Bridge Fresh.

Incidentally, the gun was an extremely valuable one which had been left to Will by George Barford. I hope Eddie is looking after it properly and hasn't sold it to a mate for fifty quid.

Why did they take his gun? I find that quite sad that he’s no longer a gamekeeper

After Will's wife had died in a sudden and horrible way, and her son and daughter elected to go and live with the father who had not even paid maintenance for them regularly, and his dead wife's mother had kidnapped his daughter Poppy and was planning not to let him have her back, Emma went round to see him uninvited and walked in without bothering to knock. She found him cleaning his gun and decided that he was about to kill himself, so she rang Ed (with whom at the time she was not living) to stop him, and when Ed came round and started a fight with Will over Emma the gun went off. Nobody was hurt, but Eddie, who was also there, decided to confiscate the gun.

Oh right. Yes Nics death irritated me so much I stopped listening so missed all of that

@Bruisername because he was suicidal after his wife Nic's sudden death from sepsis (and the strain of looking after the children).

There was a gut-wrenching episode where Eddie and Ed had to talk him down from doing something awful.

Oh yes I forgot about the argument with Ed initially.

This program with Steph McGovern at 6.30 is dreadful. The laughter is so faked. I hate it when audiences do that

@Bruisername it's just awful as most of the 6:30 comedy slots are.

Emma had decided that he was suicidal because he told her to get out of his house and let him alone; there was very little reason to suppose that he actually was. Eddie was talking him down, and it was working pretty well until Ed went for him because Emma, in her attempt to make things better all round, elected to tell Ed that Will had tried to kiss her. (She was not with Ed at the time; they had parted, as far as she knew for ever, so there was in fact no reason for Will not to kiss her when she came round uninvited and started talking about comforting him. That was not on the gun-cleaning occasion; there had been a previous one.)

As we all know, a physical attack on a man who is holding a gun and whom you believe to be suicidal always goes well.

I agree.